The Trump administration confirmed on Friday that a Colombian reporter arrested this week in Tennessee by federal immigration agents will go through established immigration proceedings.
Estefany Maria Rodriguez Florez, who reports for the Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Nashville on Thursday and transferred to an ICE detention center, where she remains held, authorities said.
ICE alleges Rodriguez Florez violated the conditions of her visa. Her legal team, cited by local media, said that "up until now, she hasn’t had a case with ICE charging her with anything." In an emergency petition filed in federal court, her attorneys said she has lived in the United States for five years and frequently covers stories critical of ICE, and they assert she was arrested without a warrant.
On Friday, an ICE spokesperson and a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson clarified that officers carried an "administrative warrant" at the time of the Wednesday arrest. The DHS spokesperson added: "She will receive full due process and remains in ICE custody pending the outcome of her immigration proceedings." ICE is an agency within DHS.
The detention has drawn attention amid broader debate over the administration's immigration enforcement. ICE has been central to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, an approach rights advocates say infringes on free speech and due process and has created an unsafe environment. The administration, for its part, frames its policies as efforts to reduce illegal immigration and bolster domestic security.
Rodriguez Florez had a scheduled meeting on March 17 with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, her lawyers said. They also said ICE had twice previously rescheduled a meeting connected to her case: once because of a winter storm and once after an agent could not locate her appointment in the system.
Nashville Noticias reported that the journalist was with her husband outside a gym on Wednesday when the vehicle they were in, which was marked with the outlet’s logo, was surrounded and she was detained.
According to her lawyers, Rodriguez Florez initially entered the United States on a tourist visa, filed for political asylum, later married a U.S. citizen, and holds a valid work permit. The attorneys said she and her husband have filed for permission to adjust her status to lawful permanent resident. The Trump administration contends she was not authorized to remain in the United States beyond 2021 under her tourist visa.
Context note: The details above reflect statements from ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, the journalist's lawyers and her employer as reported by local media and in court filings. The immigration proceedings remain pending.